[casademurphy]

Any people out there not using a calcium reactor in a reef tank? If so, how much success have you had with coral growth? What are you using instead of a reactor?

Anyone out there that swear by their calcium reactor?

Any info would be very helpful!

[WILLIAM1]

Okay heres my 2 cents. I have dosed for about a year with B-Ionic with good success but very slow growth. I mean I was dosing everyday 100ml cal and alk. This is a bit too costly, plus never consistant enough.

I added a reactor to the mix and stop dosing. About 3 months into the calcium reactor working hard for his master I noticed super growth results. I mean I could see growth when it was first hooked up, even more than normal. But after getting it tuned in the corals are growing very fast now. 1/4" month. Zoas are spreading super fast just great growth.

[ianizaguirre]

thats cool to hear, i am seting mine up wednesday hope to see lots of growth !

[Proud Texan]

IMO calcium reactor is not necessary to health of the aquarium and not necessary for good growth...

Right now i dont have a calcium reactor on my 90 and my corals are growing very fast....

It says you have a 90 so your tank would be most certainly fine without one...

Some people say that you probably dont need one for big tanks but for smaller there better to have...

[casademurphy]

I'm currently just using B-Ionic. It seems to be working. I'm only dosing 30ml a day. Is that right? I followed the directions on the bottle but it doesn't seem like it's enough. Any thoughts?

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by casademurphy

I'm currently just using B-Ionic. It seems to be working. I'm only dosing 30ml a day. Is that right? I followed the directions on the bottle but it doesn't seem like it's enough. Any thoughts?

Ca reactor is a wonderful piece of equipment if the type of corals you have use use it up rapidly. SPS and clams are the usuall things that require larger amounts of Ca and at a steady rate which is what a Ca reactor does. Soft corals, leathers and LPS require much less amounts of Ca and in some cases the Ca required is enough through regular water changes.

Bionic is a wonderful product and is almost foolproof but it still requires that you test for Ca levels and maintain them some where around 425-450 for a healthy tank.

[casademurphy]

I maintain between 420 - 440. That should enough I gather? I'm thinking of putting in some acropora, so will I need more calcium doses?

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by casademurphy

I maintain between 420 - 440. That should enough I gather? I'm thinking of putting in some acropora, so will I need more calcium doses?

I have a 90 also and noticed little difference in Ca levels going down even with putting 4 small acro colonies (3"s across) in for the first time. At the time I added these I was doing water changes every 3 weeks with tropic marin. I also had 4 clams in the tank one of which is 10 " long. When I added the next group of sps and another clam things went nuts with the Ca and water changes were no longer enough and I started dosing Kents 2 part and eventually switched to ESV bionic. Then I added 6 or seven more sps and could really not do a good job of maintaining the Ca at steady levels. I now make my own Ca concoction that I dose once a day while waiting for my third (yes third) Ca reactor to come in the mail. Lets hope the next one is in 1 piece. Its like some one is telling me not to get one.

Every tank is different and you will need to continue testing the Ca to figure how much is being depleted each day as you add corals and they also continue to grow. Keep an eye on your ALK as well to insure a well balanced tank.

[Bonneville08]

Hi Esther,
I have used both two part and a reactor. The reactor is only more convenient in my opinion. The two part can be expensive as well, but there are folks out there who sell the dry ingredients to make your own two part in a kit. The savings is substantial. PM me if you care to and I will send you a link to their site. I also recommend testing Alkalinity and Magnesium as well as Calcium.
Good luck